Faded
by Couver
Summary: Katara realizes that she has lost something extremely close to her, and Zuko realizes that he has no clue what he's supposed to do when someone is crying.


**AN** Ack, almost done. Disclaimers here and thanks there. Enjoy =)

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Papers were strewn across the desk and the floor surrounding it, the covers were hanging off of the bed, her wardrobe was flung over with clothes scattered around the general area. In sum the room had been properly ransacked. The culprit was sitting on the floor leaning against the bed and looking about as mussed up as the room. This would be expected from Sokka's room, before Suki of course, even Toph's room, not Katara's. Yet there she was looking close to tears and it wasn't because of the mess surrounding her either.

Her hand automatically went to her neck as she usually did to receive some form of comfort. Instead of feeling the always cool stone against her neck her fingers hovered centimeters from her neck. Her hand dropped back down to her side as she tried to calm herself down and focus on her breathing.

Normally she never took her necklace off, but over the years it had started to wear down so she had started to take it off usually before bed or before a practice battle. Still her necklace was always within eyesight or at the very least in the same room as her and now she couldn't find it anywhere.

A tear fell on her hand on her lap and she sniffed slightly out of surprise. She had thought that she had been able to control her emotions at least a bit better than before. Wiping the tear away she slowly stood up. Staying in her room wouldn't help and it would just make her more depressed if she didn't do something useful. Letting her hair out because it was too much of a mess to fix and she wasn't bothered enough to do anything with it; she straightened her clothes out before leaving her room.

Her feet led her to where she had to go. At first navigating the palace had taken a map and a head start so that she wouldn't be too late to her appointments. Now she moved around the palace without a second thought, she could even read and walk without bumping into anyone or getting lost. A quick knock was given before she walked into the room that was so familiar it may as well have been her own.

A plush carpet was beneath her feet, books were on either side of her and the chair she ended up sitting in was practically molded to her by now. The only other occupant in the room put away their work and simply stared at her, waiting for her to speak so that he would have some sort of idea as to how he was supposed to act.

The tears started to come again when she looked at him and now he was even more confused as to what he was supposed to do. He hadn't seen her cry in a long time. Sometimes when she was hurt she would shed a tear or two, when she was extremely happy or was laughing too hard she cried as well. Yet when she was crying because she was sad he really didn't know what he was supposed to do, he hadn't been in this position in a long time. That's why he settled for staring for a while before he tentatively reached out and patted her hand in what he hoped was a comforting manner.

Judging by the way she looked even more confused and looked down at his hand it wasn't working; at least he had tried something. The tears started up again after the brief pause of confusion and to Zuko at least it seemed as if they had gotten stronger. Sitting up from his own chair he moved around the desk and perched himself on the arm of the chair she was sitting on. Awkwardly he started to rub her back in a circular motion, he remembered his mother doing that and it seemed to have worked back then for him.

"Come on Kat, tell me what's wrong."

He had pulled out the nickname, which always worked in tricky situations, usually when she was mad at him for something though. She managed to calm herself down again and wiped the tears away once more. Still it took her a moment for her to fully compose herself and by now Zuko was absent mindedly playing with his hair.

"I lost it. I lost my mother's necklace. I'm a horrible person. Who loses their dead mother's necklace?"

She had returned to crying although her tears were slightly more controlled now. His eyes widened slightly at her words and he automatically started thinking of ways to fix the problem.

"Um, Katara…"

"It was the only thing I had from my mom and I _lost_ it. I can help take down an evil Fire Lord but I can't keep a necklace from getting lost. And it wasn't just my mom's, it was also my grandma's and it was made by grandpa Paku so I'm even more horrible than before."

Words weren't going to shake her out of it so he had to actually do something. Easing himself away from her and not even bothering to stop her mini rant, she wouldn't listen to him anyways, he moved back to being behind his desk and opened one of the drawers. Taking a simple box out of it he slid it across the desk towards her.

"Open it."

His simple request baffled her, now was not the time for presents.

"Trust me, just open it."

Wiping away a few more tears she clearly wasn't expecting much when she opened the box but her mouth practically dropped open when she did.

"My necklace!"

She immediately took it out of the box and noticed the difference right away.

"Zuko, why did you have my necklace, and what did you do to it?"

This was the part he had been dreading; he had hoped that he could sneak it back in its spot just like he had taken it. Of course this had been a foolish fantasy of his, he had been lucky just to have been able to take it.

"The fabric was starting to tear and fade so I had it replaced. I wanted it to be a surprise, sorry."

Apologizing was a safe way to end or start a conversation with women; this had been proven effective with most of the women in his life. Still she looked confused as to how she was supposed to feel. This was either supposed to be taken simply as a sweet gesture, or something she was supposed to be angry about. Running her hand over the familiar stone and the new fabric she guessed it was quite sweet of him to have it fixed. When she took the necklace out of the box her eyes were instantly drawn to the unfamiliar addition. Red. While the outside fabric was a blue that looked remarkably similar to the original the inside was a bright blood red that had become familiar to her during her time in the Fire Nation. The look she gave him demanded an answer.

"I didn't know if you would like that or not. I just thought you should have something a bit more in the Fire Nation style since you've become such a big part of everything here. I'm not sure if you know but you're not just Water Tribe anymore. You're much more than that."

Katara played with her necklace for a bit, touching the soft red silk that lined the inside. Making up her mind she walked over to Zuko and held out the necklace to him. After he took it from her uncertainly she turned so that her back was to him and moved her hair out of the way. He grinned; clearly relieved as he helped her put her necklace on.

Spinning around she gave him a quick peck on the lips and then lightly flicked his nose.

"That was sweet, but don't pull any more Blue Spirit moves on me or I'll have to show you some new bending moves I've been working on."

Katara grinned at him and right as he was about to lean down to steal another kiss she managed to move away.

"I need to go clean up my room. I practically turned it upside down looking for my necklace."

He was ready to protest as he followed her towards the door.

"Well if it's already a mess it can stay a mess just for a little while longer."

Zuko tried to pull her back but she managed to dodge him again. She grinned cheekily as he frowned at her inability to keep her still.

"If I start cleaning up now I'll be ready before dinner, and then after dinner we can spend some time together."

Her offer made him stop in his tracks. Nodding slightly he turned around and headed back to her desk.

"Well hurry up then, I have a lot of work to finish before dinner."

Zuko called after her as he sat back down in his chair.

He was an odd one and surprisingly playful. Yes, he went through her things and made her momentarily lose her mind but it was done with the best intentions and she couldn't really be mad at him. Watching him as she stood poised at the door Katara took in the way his eyes carefully took in every word on the document and how seriously he was taking his work that seemed to be never ending. Feeling her eyes on him he looked back up and smiled, instantly transforming his face from the serious one to a younger one.

"Go on, I'll see you soon enough."

Rolling her eyes at him playfully she gave him one last smile before she left him back to his work. Her hand reached up to her necklace and she exhaled softly, it was ridiculous how much comfort this little necklace brought to her, and it was ridiculous that it could mean even more to her now than it had before.


End file.
